Byzantion’s review of this disc covered the bases for this cute little release.
I like innova’s mini-LP look to some of their new discs,
and while there is no booklet at least the package doesn’t
inevitably tear as with some other slimline/foldout designs.

Composers integrated into their own ensemble have plenty of
advantages when it comes to composing. Presenting an ensemble
with a finished work when you have little idea of the chemistry,
personalities and tastes of the musicians involved can be a
recipe for misunderstanding or rejection, and the closer the
collaboration the better the results are likely to be. This
release is a kind of high class demo disc for both Yvonne Troxler
and the Glass Farm Ensemble, and I wish them the best of luck
with it.

Penn 1 has an interesting pallet of sonorities, with
bass clarinet a definitive factor in the winds, piano low and
percussive as well as combining with a vibraphone to create
a lively sparkle at times. There is also an atmospheric slow
section which explores multiphonics and microtone interval relationships.
Evocative of “the noises a big city like New York produces”,
the flashes of action and nocturne-like imagery is more cinematic
than actual, but none the worse for that. I’m less enamoured
of the repetitions into the 6th minute and beyond,
and the piece tends to wander a bit and might be worth editing
to get the best from the material, but it’s still decent
enough stuff.

Shergotty is the name given to a meteorite from Mars,
and Troxler describes the three movements of this piece for
three percussionists as “like found objects.” Woody
untuned percussion like knocking stones, deep thrummings and
bowed metal and juicy ostinati create fascinating mini-worlds
which spark the imagination. Brouhaha has glass bowl
players adding some magical effects to a violin and cello. These
bowls are played with marimba mallets to create unusual chimes,
as well as being set into resonance by ball bearings in the
second movement. In the end this piece raises more questions
than answers and doesn’t really satisfy one way or the
other. The effects are interesting but remain effects rather
than generating something really new, and the string parts are
either profound or profoundly uninteresting, depending on your
point of view or sense of charity. As a pianist, I would have
thought Troxler would have heard the integration of the bowl
sounds with piano strings as more interesting than - glass harmonicas
aside - the more disparate relationship of ringing bowls to
18th century catgut.

Susurrus is made using a standard piano trio instrumentation,
so with piano, violin and cello. The title means “a soft
whispering or rustling sound”, and the composer emphasises
the unification of the instruments through superimposition.
This doesn’t mean constant unison playing, but does involve
the strings and piano exploring the same range for extended
periods. This idea is not necessarily a bad one and I don’t
insist on Haydn-esque musical conversations from chamber ensembles
of this kind, but alas the result here ends up neither fish
nor flesh, with plenty of low ruminating, an absolute lack of
connection with any kind of emotional message and the kind of
muddy musical material which makes you ill with frustration.
Yuk.

The compact final work Kaleidoskop is a wider exploration
of less familiar juxtapositions of sonority and timbre, with
saxophone, electric guitar, percussion and piano. This is intriguing
rather than communicative of the kind of ‘wow’ factor
which brings you back to a piece. Troxler’s own notes
on the work talk about technical factors and the relationship
of the musical treatments to the title, but as with much of
the rest of the music here this is a closed world which invites
you to take a look - presenting its own values in a kind of
‘take it or leave it’ way, looking up at us from
the bottom of a deep well and not really giving us the idea
of its having very much to say about anything.

If this were poetry, you would read it, raise an eyebrow and
move on; your life unchanged by thunderbolts of significance
or an expansion of understanding and connectedness. These are
nicely crafted objects which are interesting to have around,
but sooner rather than later I suspect more interesting and
inspiring baubles will take their place in your mental space.

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